Bottle-capping machine



C. J. LAWSON.

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MA'R. 31. 1912.

1,304,578. V Patented May 27,1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l- (fig-j nuwto Gum-M1 b ileum fig/Z C. J. LAWSON.

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31, 1917.

Patented May 97, 1919.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

C. J. LAWSON.

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 31. I911.

Patented May 27, 1919.

v 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

C. J. LAWSON.

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21 1917 1,304,578. Patented May 27, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

CLARENCE J. LAWSON, 0F YONKERS, YORK.

BOTTLE-CAPPING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 27, 1919.

Application filed March 31, 1917. Serial No. 158,866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE J. LAWSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Yonkers, \Vestchester county, New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bottle-Capping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to bottle capping machines of the automatic reciprocating head type in which the sealing heads reciprocate at a fixed point instead of rotating in a circle and it is my object to construct a machine which will have few parts, be simple and sturdy in construction, will embody a, straight line bottle feed for moving the bottles into and out of the sealing position, which can be quickly and easily adjusted to cap bottles of different heights and in the cap feed of which jams andstoppages will be reduced to a minimum.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side View of my improved machine; Fig. 2 a detail of the main connecting rod, and compound crank pin; Fig. 3 a sectional view of the capping head block and guideways; Fig. 1 a view of the separable cap chute .and sealing head; Fig. 5 a front view of the bottle feeding device; Fig. 6 a view of the hopper plate \oscillator; Fig. 7 a detail end View of the bottle feeding device and Fig. 8 a top view of the bottle feeding device.

The machine comprises a main frame 1 on which a crank pin 2 is rotatably mounted. In the machine illustrated the crank pin is mounted on the gear 3 which is carried on the shaft 4 and meshes with the pinion 5 on the shaft 6 which carries the gear 7 meshin with the pinion 8 on the motor 9.

he sealing heads 10-10, a pair of which are shown, although the machine may be equipped with one or more, are mounted in a head block 11, which reciprocates in a bushed channel guide 12 in the frame 1. This head block 11 has a pin 13 thereon and a connecting rod 13 connects the slide block pin 13 and the crank pin 2 so that on r0-.

tating the crank pin 2 the sealing heads will be reciprocated.

In order that bottles of different heights such as nips, pints and quarts may be capped, the connecting rod 13 is divided and a turn buckle 1e is used to raise or lower the slide block and sealing heads to the proper. positron when it is locked by the nut 15.

The cap hopper 16 is carried on vertical shafts 1717 on the main frame and has the chute or cap race in two parts, 18 which is stationary and attached to the hopper and 19 which is attached to the sealing head. The line of division is not squarely across the chute as has heretofore been customary, but is at an acute angle, the part 19 carrying a plurality of caps and the longer part 18 leaving part of the last cap han ing over the end, being held by a finger 20 w en the head is down and which finger is tripped by the pin 21 when the head is up. The result is that on the up stroke of the part 19 of the chute the last cap in the part 18 will be struck a sharp blow and any clogging or jamming will be loosened up.

The dial face plate 22 on the front of the hopper is oscillated as the head block rises and falls by means of an arm 23 which is secured thereto and a connecting rod 25 extending between a pin 24 on the arm 23 and a in 26 on the head block 11. i

he bottles are fed across the machine in a straight line on the bottle support 27 in the line of the sealing heads 1010. The bottles are moved or fed by the following mechanism :A dovetail block 28 is secured to the under side of the table 27 and carries a finger block 29 which is free to slide backward and forward. This block has a pin 30 to which the end of a connecting rod 31 is secured. As the travel of the bottle feeding device is necessarily greater than the travel of the sealing heads an arm 32 is'secured to the crank pin 2 and carries the pin 33 on its outer end. The other end of the connecting rod 31 is secured to the pin 38. It is apparent that the path of travel of the pin 33 and its attached parts will be greater than the path of travel of the crank pin 2 and its attached parts and that the travel of the bottle feeding device will be greater than the travel of the sealing head.

The bottle feed block carries a plurality of vertical pins 34 on which the bottle pawls 35 swing or partially rotate, a spring 36 holding them rigidly against a stop 36 on the forward stroke but permitting them to yield on the rearward stroke. Five of these bottle feeding pawls are preferably employed in a two headed machine, the first serving to positively push the capped-bottles away from the heads, the second and third serving to hold the bottles under the sealing heads and the fourth and fifth serving to move up two uncapped bottles.

A safety pawl 37 on a pin 38- on the rail 42 swingin in a direction opposite to that of the fee ing pawls prevents any rearward dragging of the bottles ahead of it on the return stroke of the feeding device.

A rotating disk 39 driven in any desired manner (sheaves and belt being shown) serves to convey the bottles from the tiller to the bottle table and bring them' between the guide rails 42 and 43.

A clutch lever -l0 controls the clutch 41 so that the machine may be instantly started and stopped from the front.

The operation of the machine is as follows:Filled bottles (I are received from the filler onto the rotating disk 39 and are pushed up between the rails 42 and 43 to the bottle feeding pawls 35 which push them in pairs under the sealing heads 10-10 on the forward stroke. The sealing heads come down and afiix the caps b during the rearward stroke of the pawls, the cap chute being divided and the caps in the upper portion held back by the finger 20. On the next forward stroke of the bottle feeding device the two capped bottles are moved out of the way and two more uncapped bottles take their place, the sealing heads having meantime risen. The heads in rising and falling oscillate the front plate in the hopper for the purpose of loosening any cap jams therein and feeding the caps in the well known manner.

If a change in the size of the bottles to be capped is made the sealing heads are raised or lowered, as the case may be, by the turn buckle 14 and the hopper raised or lowered on the brackets 17 to a position which will aline the two parts 18 and 19 of the chute when the heads are raised.

I claim:-

1. A bottle capping machine comprising a main frame, a crank pin revolubly mounted thereon, a sealing head vertically movable in the frame, a connecting rod from the crank pin to the sealing head for reciprocating the latter, a bottle table under the sealing head, a bottle feeding device slidable with respect to the table and a second connecting rod from the crank pin to the bottle feeding device whereby the latter is reciprocated.

2. A bottle capping machine comprising a main frame, a crank pin revolubly mounted thereon, a. sealing head vertically mov able on the frame, a connecting rod from the crank pin to the sealing head for reciprocating the latter, said connecting rod comaeoaeve posed of two members, meansfor connecting the two members whereby the sealing head may be raised or lowered with respect to a bottle support, a bottle support under the sealin head, a bottle feeding device slidable with respect to the bottle support and a second connecting rod from the crank pin to the bottle feeding device whereby the latter is reciprocated.

3. A bottle capping machine comprising a main frame, a. crank pin revolubly mounted thereon a sealing head vertically movable on the frame, a connecting rod from the crank pin to the sealing head for reciprocating the latter, a bottle support under the sealing head, a frame slidable with respect to the bottle support, a plurality of swinging bottle feed pawls on said frame, means for rendering said pawls non-swinging on the forward stroke and swinging on the rearward stroke, a check finger on the bottle table, means for rendering said check finger rotatable during the forward stroke of the bottle feed pawls and non-rotatable on the rearward stroke and a second connecting rod from the crank pin to the slidable frame for reciprocating the bottle pawls.

4. A bottle capping machine comprising a main frame, a crank pin revolubly mounted thereon, a sealing head vertically movable on the frame, a connecting rod from the crank in to the sealing head for reciprocating tie latter, a second crank pin secured to and extending from the first, a bottle feeding device movable longitudinally under the sealing head and a second connecting rod from the second crank pin to the bottle feeding device for reciprocating the latter.

5. A bottle capping machine comprising a main frame, a sealing head reciprocating thereon, a bottle support under the sealing head, means for raising and lowering the sealing head with respect to the bottle support, a. cap hopper mounted on the main frame, a chute leading from the hopper to the sealing head having a substantially vertical portion adjacent the hopper and a curved portion adjacent the scaling head, said chute being angularly divided at the curved portion, and means for moving said head with respect to the frame whereby the continuity of the chute is maintained when the head is'at the top of the stroke, a finger extending into the path of caps in the chute and means for causing the finger to engage the last cap in the body of the chute when the parts are separated.

6. A bottle capping machine comprising a main frame, a sealing head reciprocating thereon, a hopper on the main frame, a chute leading from the hopper to the sealing head having a substantially vertical portion adjacent the hopper and a curved portion adjacent the sealing head, said chute being angularly 'divided at the curved portion, adjacent to the head with the shorter end secured thereto and adapted to contain a plurality of caps, the angle of division being such that the last Cap in the upper part partially overhangs and extends beyond the end of the chute when the parts are separated and a finger adapted to engage said last cap in the upper part of the chute when the parts are separated.

7. A bottle capping machine comprising a main frame, a sealing head vertically reciprocating thereon, means for reciprocating said head, a bottle support under the head, a hopper on the frame, a chute leading from the hopper to the sealing head having a substantially vertical portion adjacent the hopper and a curved portion adjacent the sealing head, said chute being angularly divided at the curved portion, the lower portion of which is attached to and reciprocates with the sealing head and is adapted to contain a plurality of caps, a front plate revolubly mounted in the hopper, an arm onthe plate and a connecting rod from the arm to the sealing head whereby the former will be oscillated on the reciprocation of the latter.

8. A bottle sealing machine comprising a main frame, a gear wheel mounted there on, means for revolving said gear, a crank pin on the gear wheel, a sealing head vertically slidable on the frame, a connecting rod from the crank pin tothe sealing head, a bottle support under the sealing head, a bottle feeding device longitudinally slidable with respect to the bottle support, an arm on the crank pin, a second crank pin on the outer end of the arm, .a second connecting rod from the second crank pin to the bottle feeding device, a hopper on the frame and a divided chute from the hopper t0 the sealing head.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this th day of March, 1917.

CLARENCE J. LAWSON,

Witnesses:

ROBERT E. Kncneonn, MAE M. LIPP. 

